Punishment
by Batbabe1
Summary: Robin's night just keeps getting worse and worse.....


Disclaimer: Don't own Batman or anything related to him, DC does. So please don't sue.  
  
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A/N: This is a short little one-shot for your reading pleasure. I have no idea where this came from, and I apologize for the crappyness of it. But feel free to leave a review, no matter how bad.  
  
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Punishment  
  
By: Batbabe  
  
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Sometimes Robin wondered why he even bothered.  
  
Lately, it seemed like he was the whipping boy for the entire criminal underworld. If he didn't have goons laughing at him for dressing in bright green and red, he'd have insane super-villains laughing at him because they were expecting his boss, not the kid sidekick. And there were only so many times he could be called "Robin, the boy blunder" before it got somewhat annoying. He was also starting to get an annoying rash in a most....delicate....place. Why did tights have to chafe so much?  
  
It just didn't pay to be a teenage superhero anymore.  
  
And if it wasn't his "night life" that bothered him, it was his life outside the cape. He was constantly getting picked on at school for being the nerdy brain (their words, not his), his parents were constantly asking him if he was on drugs because he was "distant" and never around, and to top it all off, Steph was talking about getting "deeply serious". He shuddered violently at the thought.  
  
Tonight had been no different from the norm, unfortunately. It was just one mishap and embarrassment after the other. The worst part had been when he got his cape stuck to a pole bulging out from the outside of a building, he'd practically hung himself when it got caught. He decided to call it a night when he heard Oracle over the comm link.  
  
"Hey boy wonder, I need you to stop by when you get a chance."  
  
The teen stopped at the sound of her voice and wondered what was going on. "Is it an emergency?" He just hoped whatever it was wouldn't take to long, his bed was practically calling to him.  
  
A light chuckle could be heard over the link before she answered. "Nah, but it's important." She paused momentarily. "I need to talk to you about something." She quickly cut the comm link before he could respond.  
  
Robin was more than a little confused by Oracle's crypticness and he wasn't in the mood to solve riddles. So he just sighed deeply and turned back around, in the direction of the clock tower. As much as he'd rather just go home and go to bed and try to forget about his horrible night, he knew he'd be in even more trouble if Oracle didn't get what she wanted from him. And if Tim knew one thing, it was that Babs was not someone you wanted mad at you.  
  
It didn't take him long to get to his destination, seeing as how he wasn't too far away when Oracle called. When he arrived, he found Barbara waiting for him with a mischievous grin on her face. The minute he landed in the room, he just knew it was a mistake.  
  
"Why hello, Timothy." Her grin became wider. "How are you this evening?" She was using the sweetest and most fake voice he had ever heard. The mere sound of it filled him with dread of an impending doom. He briefly wondered if he would be able to make it out of the tower alive.  
  
At her expectant look, he mumbled a "fine," then quickly shut up again, not knowing what else to say. He simply waited for whatever it was she had planned for him, which he was certain would be bad. He didn't have to wait long.  
  
"I need you to do something for me, Timmy." Before, he hadn't thought her smile could get any wider but somehow, it did. "I need you to go give Dick something for me."  
  
Robin couldn't believe his luck. That was all she wanted? Oh boy, was he getting off easy. But then, why was she acting so strange? And why had she pulled him off patrol to play errand-boy? Something still didn't feel right about this....  
  
"Uh, sure. What do you want me to take to him?"  
  
She practically beamed with glee as she pulled out a paperback book and held it out to him. As he turned it over to read the title, his stomach lurched and he thought he was going to throw up.  
  
"You want me to give him 'Making the Most of Your 'Little Man'???" He gaped at the chuckling woman in front of him. "Are you crazy? He'd kill me if I gave this to him!!"  
  
Babs just looked up at him through lidded eyes.  
  
"No, he'll do worse than kill me, he'll feed me to sharks while playing 'Harley's Greatest Hits'! Or worse, he'll tell Bruce that his training program isn't challenging enough for me...." Tim thought he was going to faint.  
  
"Why are you punishing me like this? Haven't I been through enough?" Robin practically decomposed into a puddle of mush while he pouted before her. A sight like this would make a regular citizen question trusting Gotham's vigilantes with their safety.  
  
The redhead just snorted as she turned away from him and back towards her blinking monitors.  
  
"You deserve it after you used my system to download 'The Best of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'."  
  
The teen wonder's head flew up indignantly.  
  
"Hey! But that's a classic.....!" 


End file.
